Meneses hits 1st homer, Nationals rally past Twins 3-2
MINNEAPOLIS -- Joey Meneses hit his first homer of the season, Keibert Ruiz singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and the Washington Nationals rallied past the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on a chilly Friday night.
Joey Gallo's solo homer was one of just five hits for the Twins, who have scored two or fewer runs in seven of their 20 games.
Minnesota led 2-0 before Meneses went deep in the seventh, a 409-foot drive to the bullpen in left-center that chased Twins starter Tyler Mahle. In the eighth, Griffin Jax (1-2) got the first two outs, but No. 9 hitter CJ Abrams sliced a ground ball past a diving third baseman José Miranda, who was playing well off the line.
After Abrams pulled up at second with a double, Lane Thomas delivered him with a single to left. Thomas took second on a wild throw home, and he scored easily on Ruiz's hit.
That was enough for the Nationals bullpen. Erasmo Ramírez (1-1), Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan each pitched a scoreless inning. Finnegan picked up his fourth save when he got Miranda to ground into a game-ending double play.
With a game-time temperature of 37 degrees — the coldest in Nationals history — both starting pitchers took control early. Mahle gave up three hits and one run over 6 1/3 innings, while Washington's Trevor Williams allowed two runs over six innings.
Gallo led off the bottom of the third with his fifth home run of the season, a 386-foot blast to right that left the bat at 112.6 miles per hour.
Ryan Jeffers followed with a towering drive that fell between center fielder Victor Robles and right fielder Lane Thomas for a double. Jeffers moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Michael A. Taylor and scored on Max Kepler's sacrifice fly.
Mahle, who was acquired from Cincinnati at the trade deadline last year but made just four more starts before being shut down with a shoulder injury, pitched into the seventh inning for the first time as a Twin.
Meneses hit 13 homers in 222 at-bats as a 30-year-old rookie last year and starred for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic, batting .370 with two homers. But he had been off to a slow start for the Nats, entering the game with a .562 OPS.
